Crankshaft Lamp

Just as in my other Instructable, I found myself with a three cylinder 75 hp Evinrude boat motor crankshaft and a desire to make something out of it to match my bubblegum stand. As you may notice from the pictures, this motor had died of natural causes a few years ago by eating the roller bearings between the connecting rod and the crankshaft of the middle piston which gave enough slop for the bolts to rip a hole in the crankcase.

Initially I thought this would be an easy project but was immediately deterred when I realized that the side I had wanted to face up wouldn't due to to taper on the shaft.

Step 1: Fitting

So, I had to find (borrow) a very large drill bit (reamer) to make make lamp base instead of an ashtray. 

Luckily their were three holes on the top in a small enough pattern that I could put studs in and clamp in vice.

Step 2: Feet

Turns out that the end of the crankshaft went further through the newly enlarged hole than I would have liked and hits the ground before the flywheel.

But there were already balancing holes in the bottom so I just tapped them and put in 5/16 - 18 bolts with rubber caps from ebay.
  Rubber caps = Pool cue bumpers 

Step 3: Harp and Lampshade

1x Harp from lowes
1x Light Socket (I used a porcelainized ceramic one because its mounting stud fit the end of my crankshaft better) from lowes

Most lighting sockets will have a threaded rod coming out of the bottom which was much smaller than the end of the crankshaft. I solved this by sandwiching a piece of rubber (roughly the size of the id of the shaft and 1-2"tall with a hole for the threaded rod) between two washers and a nut along the rod. So when you twisted the light socket; it would move down the threads and squish the rubber out to grip the inside of the shaft. Alternatively you could fill it with glue or epoxy, but it wouldn't be removable.

(Still in progress) Buying a lampshade would be the easiest way (which i still may do), but I decided to try to make one instead. The plan is to do it with a trimmed AC vent on the top, a metal hoop or ring on the bottom, and some kind of expanded metal pattern with a light diffuser behind it.(maybe like the last 3 pictures)

Step 4: Wiring

Since I couldn't easily drill a hole through the center of the entire shaft, I decided to make the wiring part of the visual appeal and feed it through the holes already in the lobes. A good source of cloth covered wire is the NUD Collection. Although, I didn't order my wire through them; they have an enormous selection of colors and patterns. They will also send you a free sample of an assortment if your choosing(In Sweden so allow plenty of time for shipping). Since the lamp only required two wires I went with a twisted copper colored style. And, I added a little piece of twisted copper at the bottom to keep the wire in place and to act as a sort stress reliever if the cord was pulled on.

Step 5: The Finished Product

Ta-da!  with funny lightbulb and all. 

Don't know if i'll leave the pistons on, but they're easy o take off. (they are kinda fun to play with though)

I'll upload more pictures later with some kind of a lampshade hopefully.

Feel free to ask any questions about any of it.

Comments

[MoonDocker]

Nice to see some recycling of old engine parts into fine art! Well in my mind I appreciate such endeavours. I use to race cars in my younger years and often thought about transforming all those used parts into something like the lamp you put together. Thanks for sharing.

[asteidl]

One quick one, how much does the lamp weigh? I gutted a 6-cylinder OMC motor last year sometime, and the crank from it was massive, but I had similar plans, till I dropped it and it broke my concrete slab.

[jessyratfink]

I like the pistons! This is really awesome looking. :D

[Ryan Hebron]

definitely an original idea i like it